My water broke 13 minutes into my due date – Wednesday, June 4 – proving that all Petrovics really are Type A personalities and enjoy a good schedule. Sasha and I headed to the hospital around 2:30am, unsure of whether I really was in labor, as I wasn’t having any contractions. We arrived at Memorial Hermann Hospital at around 2:35am (we live super close), and got put into a room quickly. My nurse initially thought my water hadn’t broke, but after a secondary test, found out that it had. Since I wasn’t having any contractions at all, she started me on pitocin to induce labor. I still wasn’t feeling the contractions when they started, but we watched them pass by on the monitor. I was exhausted as I had only slept for one hour before being woken with my water breaking, so I fell asleep while Sasha took a work call at 6:00am – it was that exciting in the room! At noon, my mom came to visit and brought Sasha Lupe’s Tortillas – the smell of it almost killed me. I was STARVING at this point and eating so many ice chips it wasn’t even funny. Around 2pm, the pain from the contractions became too much, so I opted for the epidural. Before getting it, I made one last emergency trip to the restroom – I was determined not to poop during labor (TMI, I know – but it worked!). The anesthesiologist allowed Sasha to stay in the room, which was so nice. I gripped onto his hands so hard but fortunately didn’t faint (I received lots of oxygen during the day to prevent fainting). After the epidural kicked in, all of the pain went away; however, our day nurse, Annie, was getting nervous as when my contractions came, Isla’s heart beat plummeted, which likely meant that the umbilical cord was around her neck. Annie and Sasha moved me from left to right every five minutes (I couldn’t feel my legs at all), which became rather annoying and I was getting nervous. My ob-gyn, Dr. Tejml, came around 3pm and told me that she wasn’t happy with my progress as I wasn’t dialating quickly enough and I was beginning to get a fever, which is the sign of an infection (common when your water breaks). They had dropped my pitocin due to Isla’s heart beat action, but needed to increase it again to progress my labor. Dr. Tejml came again around 5:45pm and said that if I didn’t dilate further (I was 7cm) in the next 20 minutes, she was going to have to do a c-section. I was devastated. I did not want to have this major surgery, and was so scared about being cut open! So, I prayed and prayed, and when she returned at 6:05pm, she checked my dilation and thank the Lord, I was 10cm. She explained what I had to do to push, and around 6:10, we started. After about 17 minutes, she called in the forces, and 1 minute later, Isla Milijana Petrovic entered this world at 6:30pm, as cute as can be, even covered in all that goop. She weighed 6 pound 12 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long – with some long legs, not inherited from me! She has jet black hair and looks almost identical to me as a newborn (but I think she looks more like Sasha now!).

The last few days have been such a whirlwind – learning to breastfeed, struggling to sleep (both me and Isla), adjusting to life with a baby. I am truly on cloud nine. I love her more than anything in the world. I’ll post more pictures soon, but for now, it’s time to rest!